Deadly explosion at Qatar restaurant blamed on gas cylinder

Twelve people died when a large gas cylinder exploded Thursday on the roof of a restaurant in Doha, Qatar, the emirate's civil defense director said in a televised news conference.

The blast injured 31 others and caused the partial collapse of Istanbul Restaurant, civil defense director Hamad Othman N. Al-Duhaimi said.

The collapse injured customers, employees and some people walking past the restaurant, Al-Duhaimi said. It also damaged nearby buildings and cars near the restaurant, which is close to the city's popular Landmark Mall.

The force of the blast spread 165 feet (50 meters), Qatar's Interior Ministry said on Twitter.

It's not known at this time what caused the gas cylinder to explode. Authorities were investigating, the ministry said.

UK spy agency intercepted millions of webcam chats, stored images

Yahoo is slamming as "completely unacceptable" a British agency's alleged collection of digital images while eavesdropping on webcam chats, a spokesperson for the Internet search engine said Thursday.

And Yahoo says if the electronic spying took place, the online mainstay had nothing to do with it.

"We are not aware nor would we condone this reported activity," the spokesperson said following a published report by the UK-based Guardian newspaper that Britain's Government Communications Headquarters, known as GCHQ, spied on people using Yahoo webcam chats, whether or not those users were investigative targets.

According to the Guardian report, which cites documents leaked by former National Security Agency intelligence contractor Edward Snowden, the GCHQ collected the images under a program known as "Optic Nerve."

The documents show, according to the Guardian, that the GCHQ -- with reported aid from the U.S. National Security Agency -- intercepted and stored the webcam images of millions of Internet users.

If the report is true, it is "completely unacceptable," the Yahoo spokesperson said.

The mass collection of digital images of Yahoo users began because GCHQ targets were known to use the search engine's webcam, the documents said, according to the Guardian.

During a six-month stretch in 2008, the GCHQ allegedly collected images from webcam chats from 1.8 million Yahoo users globally, the newspaper reported.

The still images were allegedly collected at five`-minute intervals during the chats. One document, according to the Guardian, compared the collection of digital images to that of a massive digital police mugshot book.

GCHQ declined to speak to the allegations, citing a longstanding policy that it does not comment on intelligence matters.

"Furthermore, all of GCHQ's work is carried out in accordance with a strict legal and policy framework, which ensures that our activities are authorized, necessary and proportionate, and that there is rigorous oversight," according to a statement released by the agency's press office.

GCHQ is not bound by the same rules that seek to limit the NSA collection of information on its citizens. However, according to the Guardian, there are additional legal authorizations required before the agency can search for data on suspected targets in believed to be in Britain.

According to the documents, there was no mechanism in place to block the collection of data on U.S. and U.K. citizens, the Guardian reported.

The leaked documents also allegedly provided insight into how the spy agency grappled with how to deal with the pornography it encountered in webcam chats.

"Unfortunately, it would appear that a surprising number of people use webcam conversations to show intimate part of their body to the other person," one document said, according to the Guardian.

The GCHQ estimated that up to 11% of the digital images it collected from the webcam chats were explicit, the Guardian reported, citing the leaked documents.

As a result, the GCHQ allegedly warned its analysts that some of the material collected may be offensive.

"User who feel uncomfortable about such material are advised not to open them," one document said, according to the Guardian.

Charter plane crash kills 3 in Hawaii

A charter plane carrying county government workers crashed on the Hawaiian island of Lanai on

Wednesday night, killing three people and injuring three more, Maui County spokesman Rod Antone said.

The pilot and two Maui County Department of Planning workers were killed when the plane crashed about 1 mile south of an airport of Lanai City, according to a news release from Antone.

The injured were taken to a hospital. Two of them, who also were planning workers, were in critical condition Thursday morning. The third, an attorney, was in serious condition, the county said.

No names were released. Information about what led to the crash wasn't immediately available.

The group had attended a planning commission meeting on Lanai earlier Wednesday, and the plane -- a twin-engine Piper PA31, according to the Federal Aviation Administration -- was to bring them back, the county said.

The plane took off from Lanai Airport at about 9:05 p.m., and one of the injured passengers called 911 to inform authorities about the crash at 9:23 p.m., the county said.

Nasty LinkedIn rejection goes viral

When you're a city's "Communicator of the Year" and have hailed yourself as a "passionate advocate" for job-seekers, you probably ought not blast one of those job-seekers in a snide, dismissive e-mail.

Because the Internet hates that sort of thing.

But that's what's happened to Kelly Blazek, who runs a popular online job bank for marketing professionals in Cleveland.

Blazek's response to an e-mail and LinkedIn request from Diana Mekota, a 26-year-old planning to move to Cleveland this summer, has made the rounds on Reddit, Buzzfeed and other viral hotspots after Mekota posted it to her Imgur account.

And the resulting backlash is yet another cautionary tale about how posting something mean-spirited online can come back to haunt you in the social media age.

"Your invite to connect is inappropriate, beneficial only to you, and tacky," Blazek wrote, according to Mekota's post. "Wow, I cannot wait to let every 26-year-old jobseeker mine my top-tier marketing connections to help them land a job."

And she was just getting warmed up.

"I love the sense of entitlement in your generation," she wrote, then continued. "You're welcome for your humility lesson for the year. Don't ever reach out to senior practitioners again and assume their carefully curated list of connections is available to you, just because you want to build your network."

She wrapped up with: "Don't ever write me again."

Mekota's original e-mail, sent February 19, was a short message detailing her education, professional and volunteer activities and asking to join the 7,300-member jobs list. She said she got Blazek's response shortly afterward and, after composing herself, wrote a response.

"I realize you told me to never write you again, but wanted to reach out as there has been a large miscommunication and I merely wanted to explain myself," she wrote.

She said she sent a LinkedIn request so Blazek could see her credentials because a friend told her not to send a resume.

"I apologize if this came off as arrogant or invasive as that was never my intention," she wrote. "I was again, hoping to join your very impressive job board but I understand you(r) reservations."

After the posts went viral (spawning, for one, the obligatory Twitter parody account), Blazek on Wednesday e-mailed an apology to the Cleveland Plain-Dealer.

She repeated the statement, saying she has apologized to "everyone involved."

"I am very sorry to the people I have hurt," she wrote. "Creating and updating the Cleveland Job Bank listings has been my hobby for more than ten years. It started as a labor of love for the marketing industry, but somehow it also became a labor, and I vented my frustrations on the very people I set out to help."

Blazek was named 2013's "Communicator of the Year" by Cleveland's branch of the International Association of Business Communicators.

"I've always been a passionate advocate for keeping talent in NE Ohio, and we have so much of it in the region," she said in her acceptance speech. "I want my subscribers to feel like everyone is my little sister or brother, and I'm looking out for them."

On Thursday, she appeared to have deleted her Twitter account and Wordpress blog.

"The note I sent to Diana was rude, unwelcoming, unprofessional and wrong ...," she said in her e-mail. "Diana and her generation are the future of this city. I wish her all the best in landing a job in this great town."

On Twitter, Mekota confirmed having received an apology.

"Would like to let you know Kelly Blazek has sent a very nice apology email, for which I thank her," she wrote.

But this may not have been the first time Blazek has had a nasty exchange with a potential job-bank member.

Rick Uldricks told  that he received a similar response in December when he messaged Blazek saying he'd been deleted from the jobs list and would like to be added again.

"I suggest you join the other Job Bank in town. Oh -- guess what. There isn't one," Blazek wrote, according to an e-mail he provided the station. "Done with this conversation, and you.

The soldier not about to give up the fight: Cory Remsburg

His wounds as an Army Ranger in Afghanistan in 2009 left him in the fight of his life -- a fight for his life, for sheer survival.

And when his story was told by the President of the United States, that story brought a packed house in the U.S. Capitol to its feet for a standing ovation.

"Cory Remsburg never gives up, and he does not quit," President Barack Obama declared to the nation in his State of the Union address in January.

Being singled out for presidential recognition made Remsburg overnight the most recognizable veteran in the country, a position he's not entirely comfortable with. But he says he's OK with the attention as long as it brings attention to all wounded veterans.

"There are other people who would have quit a long time ago and would have been happy in their wheelchair. Me? Oh, no," he said in an interview on CNN's "New Day" that aired Thursday.

It's incredibly poignant when he makes such statements. His speech is labored and a little slurred. Every word and movement clearly takes great effort.

But it is effort he makes without complaint, without flinching.

Before the accident

Remsburg joined the Army when he was 18 years old. He wanted to join sooner, but his father, Craig, would not let him.

He went through the rigorous, specialized training to become an elite Army Ranger, deploying to Iraq and Afghanistan 10 times. He spent a total of 39 months in combat, and was eventually made leader of his company's heavy weapons squad.

In June 2009, he participated in ceremony for the 65th anniversary of D-Day, parachuting in on the shores of Omaha Beach in Normandy, France, as part of a ceremony President Obama attended. Afterward, the two met briefly.

What Remsburg didn't know then was that he would meet the President again just a year later, under very different circumstances.

On October 1, 2009, Remsburg and his platoon hit a roadside bomb in Kandahar, Afghanistan, and the immediate explosion nearly killed him. He was found face down in a pool of water, shrapnel lodged in his brain.

His father still remembers the phone call.

"I immediately went into the mode of saying, 'Hey Cory, how are you doing?' " he said. "And there was silence. And that's when the officer identified himself as Cory's company commander and said Cory's been injured."

Remsburg was in a coma for more than three months. He's undergone dozens of surgeries, is still blind in his right eye and is partially paralyzed on his left side.

But he's come a long way from those first few months.

Recovery

After years of rehabilitation centers and hospitals, Remsburg now lives at home with a full-time caregiver in Phoenix, Arizona.

This week, Remsburg returned to Casa Colina Centers for Rehabilitation in Pomona, California, where he lived for 16 months going through intensive daily therapy to regain his ability to walk and talk.

This was his first time back since leaving 10 months ago. Everyone there -- doctors, nurses and patients -- all came up to say hi, give him a hug and ask how he's doing.

Remsburg acknowledges that his recovery would not have been possible without the support of his family. His stepmother, Annie, left her job for more than a year and a half to stay with him full-time at a hospital in Florida. And his father's employer has allowed him the flexibility to be at his son's side whenever necessary.

His parents are also grateful to all the charities that have supported their son's recovery over the past five years.

Remsburg clearly has been through a lot, but one thing he has not lost is his sense of humor. During a speech therapy session that tested articulation and memory, he had to name something from a category -- his favorite baseball team, a color, a state, a street name -- followed by a card number from a deck.

When asked to name a news website, he said, "Fox News," but then remembered who was in the room with him, and quickly corrected himself by saying, "Or, CNN. Oops."

Meetings with the President

Remsburg met President Obama for the second time in 2010, shortly after coming out of his coma. The President happened to be visiting Walter Reed Medical Center outside Washington, and realized he knew the young man once he saw the photo of their first meeting hanging on the wall near his bed.

Remsburg is the only known wounded veteran to have met the President both before and after his injury.

Their third meeting was about a year ago, when President Obama made a stop in Phoenix and requested to see how Remsburg was doing. When Obama arrived, Remsburg did something that shocked even his father.

"Cory got up, saluted him, then got up with a walker and walked across the floor," Craig said.

For Cory, the gesture was to prove a point: "To show the President that this is what happens when you don't quit."

What's next

On Wednesday, Remsburg turned 31. To celebrate his birthday, he took a tandem skydiving jump; his first since his injury.

He's also working with a therapy dog that will help him do some of the things he can no longer do for himself.

He says his heroes are his Army Ranger buddies who gave their lives serving their country. He wears a bracelet engraved with their names as a reminder of their ultimate sacrifice.

His long-term goals are to go to college, get married and have children, to live a full life, just like anyone else.

Extreme weather to leave Detroit shivering, Southern California drenched

Mudslides, cold, flooding. The barrage of extreme weather feels relentless.

Another arctic blast is bringing subzero temperatures to the Midwest, pushing the mercury below freezing as far south as Florida.

Detroit public schools will be closed Friday because of extreme cold, the school system said.

The National Weather Service warned that in the Detroit area, wind chills are forecast to be between 10 and 25 degrees below zero.

Forecasters say Detroit is the hardest-hit this season, with more than 78 inches of snow and 13 days of temperatures below zero.

New York, Philadelphia and Chicago also rank high on the misery list for record snowfall and freezing temps.

"We've been able to look at this winter and compare it to the record since 1950, and putting this winter in context, it really has been as severe as people think it is," said Barbara Mayes Boustead, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service.

"This really has been the worst winter in a lot of people's lifetimes. We haven't seen winters like this since the 70s in a lot of places."

News of more extreme weather got a cold response.

"Where the hell is that stupid groundhog? I'm going to wring its scrawny little neck," said Christopher Klipstine of Hobbs, New Mexico.

Famed groundhog weather prognosticator Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow earlier this month, predicting six more weeks of winter.

Rain brings relief, and mudslides

Thousands of miles away from Detroit, some areas in Southern California are evacuating because of the potential for flash floods Friday and Saturday in Los Angeles County.

Authorities are warning that torrential rain will finally put a dent in the state's severe drought -- its worst in 100 years -- but at a price.

Currently, California is "abnormally dry," the U.S. Department of Agriculture said last week.

Though rain will bring much-needed relief, mudslides are a big concern, with 6 inches of rain forecast for some areas.

"A very strong and dynamic storm will bring a significant amount of rain to much of southwestern California," the National Weather Service said.

"A flash flood watch has been issued for several recent burn areas in Los Angeles County due to the abundant rainfall expected," the weather service said. "There will be isolated thunderstorms ... rain rates at times are expected to range from a half to 1 inch per hour, which could cause significant mud and debris flows."

A flash flood watch remains in effect until Saturday evening for Colby, Madison and Madre burn areas in Los Angeles County.

Most of those areas are at risk because recent wildfires have razed vegetation and left hillsides bare.

Affected areas under mandatory evacuation orders include Azusa and Glendora, which have the highest risk of flooding due to loss of vegetation.

Ukraine tells Russia to back off as Crimea tensions, secession fears deepen

Men in military uniforms patrolled the main airport in Ukraine's Russian-majority Crimea region Friday, a move that Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov called part of an "armed invasion" by Russian forces.

Around noon Friday, the armed men still stood guard outside the Simferopol airport. Airport operations have not been affected, civil aviation authorities said.

"We are checking to make sure that no radicals come to Crimea from Kiev, from the Ukraine," said one man, who didn't give his name.

"We don't want radicals, we don't want fascism, we don't want problems."

Avakov said that armed men were also blocking a military airbase, in Sevastopol, and said they were troops from Russia's Black Sea fleet, stationed in the port city. They were camouflaged in uniforms without military insignia, he said.

Writing on his Facebook page, Avakov said Russia's actions were "an armed invasion and occupation," and "a direct military provocation on sovereign Ukrainian territory."

Concerned, Ukraine's parliament voted through a resolution that demanded that Russia halt any activity that can be interpreted as an attack.

Russia did not react to Ukraine's latest allegations. But it continued snap military exercises on Ukraine's doorstep.

A house divided

Ever since President Viktor Yanukovych was ousted Saturday, Ukraine has been showing a deepening schism. Those in the west generally support the country's interim government and its tilt toward the European Union. And many in the east prefer things as they were -- a Ukraine where its larger neighbor, Russia, casts a long shadow.

And nowhere is that feeling more intense than in Crimea. It's the last big bastion of opposition to the new political leadership. And Ukraine suspects Russia of fomenting tension in the autonomous region -- tension that might escalate into a bid for separation by its Russian majority.

Ousted President to speak

Yanukovych, who has not been seen since his ouster, is now in Russia, where authorities have accepted his request for security, according to the state-run RIA Novosti news agency. It attributed the information to anonymous government sources.

He is expected to give a news conference Friday in the southwestern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, near the border with Ukraine.

Yanukovych has already rejected Ukraine's newly appointed unity government, saying he is still the country's legitimate elected leader, so his reappearance may only fuel the rising tensions in Crimea.

Voting out the Premier

On Thursday, dozens of armed men seized government administration buildings in Simferopol, the Crimean capital. They planted Russia's flag atop the parliament building.

Then, in a vote of no confidence, pro-Russian members of the Crimean parliament dismissed the government of Premier Anatolii Mohyliov, who was perceived as pro-Kiev.

The lawmakers also scheduled a referendum on greater autonomy for the region within Ukrainian territory.

The date of the referendum? May 25 -- the day Ukraine is scheduled to hold its presidential and local elections.

Amid the dizzying developments, Kiev has gone about its business of governing.

On Thursday, lawmakers approved opposition leader Arseniy Yatsenyuk as Prime Minister. He made clear that he believes the country's future rests in closer ties to Europe, not Russia.

Russian maneuvers

As tensions simmer in the Crimea, Russia alarmed some observers by announcing surprise military exercises Wednesday in its western and central areas.

Those continue Friday, Russia's Defense Ministry said, with more than 80 combat helicopters set to take to the skies in Russia's Western Military District, which borders Ukraine, for search and rescue drills.

U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel warned Thursday against provocations by any party.

"I'm closely watching Russia's military exercises along the Ukrainian border," he said. "I expect Russia to be transparent about these activities, and I urge them not to take any steps that could be misinterpreted or lead to miscalculations."

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had told him the snap military exercises were prescheduled and unrelated to the events in Ukraine.

He also said Lavrov had reaffirmed to him a commitment that Russia would "respect the territorial integrity of Ukraine."

Kerry said that was a commitment that Russian President Vladimir Putin made to President Barack Obama when they spoke last week.

Crimea was handed to Ukraine by the Soviet Union in 1954. Just over half its population is ethnic Russian, while about a quarter are Ukrainians and a little more than 10% are Crimean Tatars, a predominantly Muslim group oppressed under former Soviet leader Josef Stalin.

Rochdale coma woman Sheila Holt told to 'find work'

                        Minister Mike Penning apologised to the family of Sheila Holt

An "unreserved apology" had been issued by the government to the family of a woman who was sent a letter 

 encouraging her to find work even though she has been in a coma for two months.

 Speaking in the Commons, the Minister for Disabled People Mike Penning said things had clearly "gone wrong".

Sheila Holt, from Rochdale, was invited to "intensive job-focused activity".
Rochdale MP Simon Danczuk said the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) was hounding disabled people.
Sheila Holt's case was highlighted by Mr Danczuk during a debate on the effects of welfare reform on the sick and disabled.
Mr Danczuk said: "Sheila has suffered from severe bipolar [disorder] since childhood and regularly has traumatic experiences.
"She has not been in employment since she was 16 years old.
However she was pushed into the Work Programme before Christmas and she was finding it extremely difficult."
He said members of her family repeatedly informed Seetec, a contractor carrying out work capability assessments for the DWP, that she was not well "but they continued to get harassed by those organisations".
'Threatening her' Ms Holt's father Ken said her last job was 27 years ago and last year she was forced to go on a job-seeking course for eight days.
After each day she became more and more agitated until she "cracked" her father said, and was hospitalised following a "manic episode".
But while in hospital she suffered a heart attack on 17 December last year and is still in a coma after suffering brain damage.
He said: "If they had left her alone she would not be in this condition. They were threatening her with cuts and she needs the benefits.
"I just believe it's all wrong, you should be chasing the people who are fit, get them to work, not them that are not fit. It's outrageous."
Mr Penning said: "I apologise, unreservedly, to the family as the minister responsible.
"The family have every right to be aggrieved and I hope she makes a full recovery."

World's longest aircraft is unveiled in UK

The world's longest aircraft has just been unveiled in Britain's biggest aircraft hangar.

At first, you might mistake it for a giant airship - gas-filled balloon on top, pod slung underneath.
But the unique, aerodynamic shape of the balloon - it looks as if a series of cigars have been sewn together - means it can also generate lift just like an aeroplane wing.
That is key, because it enables the designers to make the machine heavier than air, which cuts the need to have dozens of crew hanging on to ropes holding it down every time you land.
In fact, you can land it via remote control with no-one on board at all if you like. And on water if needs be.
Let me put it into perspective for you.
This thing is two-and-a-half times longer than the distance covered by the Wright brothers' first powered flight.
With a length of 302ft (92m) the new airship is about 60ft longer than the biggest airliners, the Airbus A380 and Boeing 747-8.
It is also almost 30ft longer than the massive cargo-carrying Antonov An-225, which until now was the longest aircraft ever built.

Government funding
It costs about $100m (£60m) and the designers are planning an even bigger version that will eventually be able to carry 50 tonnes at a time.
The company developing it has now received £2.5m of government funding to develop the technology and engineering for the project.
"We are jointly funding £2bn of research and development into the next generation of quieter, more energy efficient and environmentally friendly planes," says Business Secretary Vince Cable.
"That includes backing projects like Hybrid Air Vehicles' innovative low carbon aircraft which can keep us at the cutting edge of new technology.
"Here is a British SME that has the potential to lead the world in its field"

 

Cardington's hangars were built for Britain's early 20th Century airships

'We'll fly over the Amazon'

All of which will be welcome news to one of the project's high-profile investors, Bruce Dickinson.
He is one of those people who can't stop achieving stuff.
As if being the lead singer of one of the world's most successful and enduring rock bands, Iron Maiden, was not enough, he is also an airline pilot, businessman, and is investing in this project.

"It's a game changer, in terms of things we can have in the air and things we can do," he says.

"The airship has always been with us, it's just been waiting for the technology to catch up."
He wants to sell them and he'll be very good at it. As we chat in the hangar, he goes through its credentials.
It is 70% greener than a cargo plane, he says. It doesn't need a runway, just two crew. And it can plonk 50 tonnes anywhere in the world you like, which is 50 times more than a helicopter.
He wants to drum up publicity with the kind of trip Richard Branson would dream up. A non-stop flight around the world - twice.
"It seizes my imagination. I want to get in this thing and fly it pole to pole," he says.

"We'll fly over the Amazon at 20ft, over some of the world's greatest cities and stream the whole thing on the internet.

A first British flight is scheduled for later this year

Historic hangars

It is not surprising that we had to go to Britain's biggest aircraft hangar to see the world's longest aircraft.
For the best view, we had to climb the world's scariest staircase too (safe of course, but not one for the faint-hearted).
Cardington shed number one, in Bedfordshire, is nearly as impressive as the flying machine inside it.
Built 100 years ago, it dominates the skyline around here (along with its neighbour Cardington number two shed) and it is bristling with history. This is where they built the ill-fated airship, R101, back in the 1920s.
That behemoth was twice as long as the hybrid air vehicle, had a beautiful dining room and lounge on board, and was meant to herald the future of flight, right up until the moment it was devoured by fire after a crash in France in 1930.
Technology has come a long way since then. The Hybrid Air Vehicle (HAV) is full of inert helium, not explosive hydrogen.
The HAV is back in the UK after the US Army ran out of money to develop the project.

The advantage of modern airships is they can deliver supplies to remote areas, say supporters

 Flight plans 

The US military bought it a few years ago and got this aircraft flying as a surveillance machine - it can stay in the same spot for 21 days at a time, and can fly with a lot of bullet holes in it too.
When the US defence budget was slashed, the British developers bought it back, and now they are planning the first UK flight later this year.
They are hoping to sell it to oil and mining companies to deliver heavy equipment to remote corners of the world. But they are also keen to sell its humanitarian possibilities.
The HAV, which has been named Airlander, could ferry tonnes of supplies to and from any disaster zone, day in and day out.
All you would need is a crew of two and a patch of ground, or water on which to land.

                                      

                

'Landmark' crackdown on fake shares fraudsters

The operation resulted in 110 arrests - mostly in Spain and the UK.
Police targeted the masterminds and facilitators of the "boiler room" fraud - so-called because of the cramped conditions they work from.
There are 850 confirmed victims of the gangs in the UK, but the real figure is likely to be in the "multi-thousands".
Detectives say the aim of the two-year investigation, codenamed Operation Rico, is to "decimate" boiler room fraud in Europe.
They believe it is the biggest ever operation into the crime.

               An Aston Martin is towed away from an alleged fraudster's home in Barcelona

Operation Rico, which culminated in a series of raids this week, was led by City of London Police.
Commander Steve Head, who is the national economic crime co-ordinator, said: "It is our most important investigation ever, targeting people we believe are at the top of an organised crime network that has been facilitating boiler rooms across Europe and which is suspected of being responsible for millions of pounds of investment fraud."
Among those under investigation were 10 "tier one criminals" with alleged links to organised crime and drugs, detectives said. Nine of them are British, one is South African.

The operation was supported by Spanish police and involved agencies in the UK and overseas, including the US Secret Service.

"This is a landmark both from an investigative perspective and in terms of our close working partnership with other law enforcement agencies, most notably the Policía Nacional," said Commander Head.
Eighty-four arrests were made in Spain - where most of the boiler rooms are believed to be based - in raids involving 300 police officers, 40 of them from the UK.
Twenty people were detained in Britain, two in the US, four in Serbia.
Police released photographs of a Ferrari and a Ford Mustang seized in Marbella, and an Aston Martin recovered in Barcelona.
Detective Inspector James Clancey, from City of London Police, who was based in Spain for the operation, said: "This is us seeking to decimate a crime type."
Police say victims of the boiler room gangs have lost sums ranging from £2,000 to £500,000.

 

A Ford Mustang confiscated by police from a property in Marbella

Those who are targeted are usually vulnerable or have a history of share investment, particularly in privatised utilities in the 1980s and 90s.
Most of them are aged 40 and over, with many in their 70s and 80s. Police say some killed themselves because of the financial problems they got into.
Fraudsters cold-call their victims, applying "high-pressure sales techniques" and "confidence tricks" to persuade them to part with their money.
They are offered returns of 10 to 20% per year, directed to authentic-looking websites and glossy brochures and asked to invest in bonds in well-known firms or in other companies that are officially registered.
Initially, they may receive "dividends" to give them confidence their investment is paying off but never receive any more or get their money back.
One of the victims, a woman in her late 70s, invested £23,000 in carbon credits.

                              The plush Marbella home of one of the suspects targeted by police

She was then persuaded by another salesman to borrow money to buy £140,000 of shares in gold. She never recovered the money.
"I foolishly trusted him," she told BBC News, adding: "My generation is not very streetwise - because we never had to be."
Another victim, a 72-year-old man from the Midlands, said he and his wife had been "scammed out of our entire life savings".
He said that, in the weeks after realising what had happened, "we hardly slept or ate".
"It is still very raw to us both and we both have bad days when it is all we can think about," he added.
The Financial Conduct Authority has estimated that as much as £200m is lost to boiler room frauds in Britain every year.
The biggest individual loss recorded by police was £6 million.
Officers say the fraudsters spend their proceeds on Rolex watches, Armani suits, fast cars and flashy apartments.
Some are involved in drug dealing and attend drugs parties.
Avoiding detection Each boiler room network is believed to have an accountant, money launderer and lawyer, as well as people who do the "sales".
These tend to be university students or travellers who speak English, including some from Scandinavia, who have answered adverts for salespeople.

 A suspect's own photo of what are believed to be high value watches worn on the end of their slippers

They use false names and build up a "legend" - a cover story and false history.
"They're young people who want to earn good commission and want to drink themselves into the ground," said DI Clancey.
Operation Rico is the first time there has been a multi-agency and cross-border investigation against different networks of boiler room fraudsters. Previously there was more of a piecemeal approach.
However, despite some successes, criminals had become adept at avoiding detection by frequently moving offices and wiping computers.
DI Clancey said the Spanish authorities were fully behind the operation. "The Spanish want to drive it out of Spain - it's tainting them," he said.
Detectives acknowledge that boiler room fraudsters will not disappear but they are more likely to operate in future in the more "hostile" environments of Thailand, Indonesia and the United Arab Emirates.
Police have urged anyone who may have been scammed to call the Action Fraud line on 0300 123 2040.
Anyone with any information about these crimes can call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

Police search the luxury home of a suspected criminal in Marbella  

Stop Arizona-style anti-gay bill in Georgia

Georgia -- with its tumultuous past of discrimination -- is following Arizona's recently failed attempt to pass what amounts to anti-gay legislation with the Preservation of Religious Freedom Act.

The state may shift from the cradle of the civil rights movement to the vanguard of legalized 21st-century bigotry with the consideration of this legislation, modeled on Arizona's, that would allow businesses to refuse service to gay and lesbian customers on the basis of alleged religious conviction.

The measure, whose fringe supporters contend is couched in the First Amendment, would provide a legal avenue for business operators to ignore existing local nondiscrimination protections that even "indirectly inhibit" the "free exercise" of their faith.

Like the controversial Arizona bill, this broadly written proposal has profound implications -- not only for the aggrieved minority it would directly affect but also for the social reputation of the state at large. Those implications will permanently stain us, cementing the lasting ignominy of Jim Crow.

One of us is the Democratic leader of the Georgia House of Representatives and the other an adviser to two conservative Republican governors and national party committees. Despite our policy disagreements, we're both Georgians, and we stand together in opposition to these bills.

The fact that we can overcome our severe political differences and agree that this legislation would be wrong and bad for the state demonstrates the growing bipartisan opposition to legislation of this sort.

Two bills exist, one in each chamber: Boosters of the House measure, House Bill 1023, have soft-pedaled the issue, but the sponsor of the Senate proposal, Senate Bill 377, griped this week that the only opponents to his legislation are those advocating "militant atheism," whatever that is.

As written, the Senate bill doesn't carve out narrow exemptions for wedding vendors but instead extends the blanket conscience provision to all commercial quarters.

Not only could restaurateurs and hoteliers turn away same-sex couples, but pharmacists could deny life-saving therapy to HIV-positive patients. The legislation is so vague that it's not merely limited to individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender: It could even be used as a means to discriminate against unmarried women and people of different faiths.

Those possibilities are frightening, but the economic consequences are no less serious.

Georgia, like much of the Southeast, is still struggling to reinvent its modest economy after it collapsed from an overdependence on housing and real estate. Every job, every dollar of out-of-state investment matters. We have no such luxury of chasing Yankee business from our borders.

And yet that's precisely what this legislation would accomplish.

In Arizona, respected companies such as Apple and American Airlines warned they would withdraw investments from the state should the law take effect. Gov. Jan Brewer must have taken this into consideration in her veto.

Anti-gay legislation of this order is a significant social barometer for the young professionals and innovators on whom businesses rely. If they deem the state hostile to mainstream sensibilities, neither will come.

Georgia's proposal would repel the creative class in a way few other factors could -- except maybe our recent experiences with snowstorms and 20 hours in a frigid car. In the same way, the law would spook out-of-state firms weighing a move to Georgia.

But even worse than new business avoiding the state is the real prospect of existing major companies bailing. Delta Air Lines, one of Georgia's largest employers, on Tuesday strongly denounced the measure and warned it would "result in job losses."

That's a proposition Georgia can ill afford.

Central to the American ethos is the promise of freedom, the protection of which is an appropriate function of the legislature. But freedom is a universal shelter, swaddling each American the same as the next no matter his or her color, creed or sexual orientation.

No weary driver nor hungry belly would want to be denied a hotel room or hot meal on the basis of immutable characteristics or faith, but that's what the Georgia bill would allow. The notion is distinctly un-American and we, Republican and Democrat together, don't want that in our state.

Alabama girl, 4, dies after being attacked by dogs, police say

  Authorities are investigating the death of a 4-year-old girl who was mauled by dogs in central Alabama Wednesday afternoon.
The attack happened on the south side of Tallassee on Lower Tuskegee Road, Tallassee Police Chief Jimmy Rodgers told WAKA-TV. The girl was playing in the yard when she was attacked, Rodgers said.
"Her grandfather went out to check on her and spotted a large dog standing over her. There may have been other dogs involved in the attack. He yelled at the dog and it ran off. He called 911 and officers responded," Rodgers told the Montgomery Advertiser.
The girl's name was not released, and few other details were immediately available about the attack on Thursday.
"We are working with the district attorney's office to determine what, if anything, can be done to the dogs," Rodgers said. "We have identified the owner of the shepherd mix. We are investigating to see if any criminal charges can be filed." The owner's identity hasn't been released.
Rodgers said the City of Tallassee has a law prohibiting dog owners from letting their pets roam. However, the newspaper reports that the attack happened in an area of Tallassee that falls under Tallapoosa County's jurisdiction.

Court rules school can ban American flag shirts to avoid racial strife

A federal court ruled Thursday that a northern California high school did not violate the constitutional rights of its students when school officials made them turn their American flag T-shirts inside out on Cinco de Mayo or be sent home due to fears of racial violence.
The three-judge panel unanimously decided the officials’ need to protect the safety of their students outweighed the students’ freedom of expression rights.
Administrators at Live Oak High School, in the San Jose suburb of Morgan Hill, feared the American-flag shirts would enflame Latino students celebrating the Mexican holiday, and ordered the students to either turn the shirts inside out or go home for the day.
The school had a history of problems between white and Latino students on that day, and also had a documented history of violence between gang members and between racial groups. The court said these past problems gave school officials sufficient and justifiable reasons for their actions and that schools have wide latitude in curbing certain civil rights to ensure campus safety.
"Our role is not to second-guess the decision to have a Cinco de Mayo celebration or the precautions put in place to avoid violence," Judge M. Margaret McKeown wrote for the panel. The past events "made it reasonable for school officials to proceed as though the threat of a potentially violent disturbance was real," she wrote.
The San Jose Mercury News reports the parents of the students represented in the lawsuit claim their children’s First Amendment rights were violated. The Ann Arbor, Mich.-based American Freedom Law Center, a politically conservative legal aid foundation, and other similar organizations took up the students' case and sued the high school and the school district.
"This is the United States of America," the mother of one of the students Kendall Jones told the San Jose Mercury News. "The idea that it's offensive to wear patriotic clothing ... regardless of what day it is, is unconscionable to me."
The parents have said in previous interviews with several publications that their children were only trying to be patriotic, not start a fight with Latino students.
William Becker, one of the lawyers representing the students, said he plans to ask a special 11-judge panel of the appeals court to rehear the case. Becker said he and the parents of the children are prepared to take the fight all the way to the Supreme Court.

Syria civil war 'horrors' lead US human rights report

 

 The US report said the Syrian civil war had been filled with "countless crimes against humanity, from the torture and murder of prisoners to the targeting of civilians with barrel bombs and Scud missiles"

 A global human rights report released by the US has singled out Syria's civil war as a tragedy that "stands apart in its scope and human cost".

The US said a chemical weapons attack in Syria that it says killed 1,429 was "one of many horrors" in the war.
The annual state department review also noted the increased crackdown elsewhere on protesters and civil society groups.
The report cited official persecution of dissidents in Ukraine, Venezuela, Turkey and China in 2013.
The review known as the Country Reports on Human Rights Practices includes indictments of countries in every corner of the world.
But it saved its harshest condemnation for the government of Syria, where well over 100,000 people have been killed and millions more forced to flee since March 2011.
It cites the 21 August 2013 chemical weapons attack on Ghouta, an agricultural belt around Damascus, as one of "many horrors in a civil war filled with countless crimes against humanity, from the torture and murder of prisoners to the targeting of civilians with barrel bombs and Scud missiles".
In remarks after the release of the report on Thursday, Secretary of State John Kerry also condemned the government of Ukraine for the recent violence against protesters.
"In Ukraine, as we all just saw in real time in the last days, tens of thousands took to the streets... to demonstrate again the power of people to be able to demand a more democratic and accountable governance, and to stand up even against those who would sniper from roofs and take their lives in the effort to have their voices heard," Mr Kerry told reporters.
Mr Kerry described Ukraine as one example of a nation in which public backlash against corruption and overbearing governments has been further inflamed by official violence.
Ukraine's ex-President Viktor Yanukovych has fled the capital after months of unrest.
The report criticises Mr Yanukovych's government for parliamentary elections that did not meet international standards for fairness or transparency, security forces beating protesters during a peaceful 30 November demonstration, and a general crackdown on the country's news media.
Mr Kerry also criticised the government of Venezuela, where a crackdown on anti-government protests this month left at least a dozen people dead.
The report gave poor marks to both former Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi and current interim government leader Field Marshal Abdul Fattah al-Sisi.
Also, Assistant Secretary of State Uzra Zeya said Iran had seen "little meaningful improvement" in its human rights record since the election last year of President Hassan Rouhani.
Other alleged human rights abuses and developments called out by the US in the review include:

• Selective use of a law against "extremism" in Russia and persecution of government critics, religious minorities, and gays and lesbians
• Turkey's jailing of as many as 73 journalists charged under an anti-terror law
• The alleged beating and torture by security forces in Belarus of protesters and detainees
• Lapses in labour fire safety standards in Bangladesh, as the collapse of a factory building killed more than 1,000 garment workers
• Anti-gay violence and official anti-gay discrimination in Nigeria and Uganda
• A "state-directed crackdown on activists and suppression of political dissent and public advocacy" in China

Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore sing about reuniting ‘Every 10 Years’ on ‘Tonight Show’ The movie stars behind 'The Wedding Singer,' '50 First Dates' and now 'Blended' sing a duet about starring in romantic comedies together during an appearance on Jimmy Fallon's show.

Adam Sandler, left, and Drew Barrymore sing about how much they love being an on-screen couple in 'Every 10 Years,' with Jimmy Fallon playing guitar.

Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore still have great chemistry.
The movie stars appeared on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" on Wednesday to promote their latest film collaboration, "Blended," due out in theaters May 23.
RELATED: DREW BARRYMORE: MY MOM AND I 'CAN’T BE IN EACH OTHER’S LIVES AT THIS POINT’

Adam Sandler, left, and Drew Barrymore visit ‘The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon’ on Wednesday.

Fallon noted that two have worked together before, resulting in the hit comedies of 1998's "The Wedding Singer" and 2004's "50 First Dates," and called them a "great romantic comedy couple."
"Every 10 years, we get to fall in love again," Barrymore said.

Drew Barrymore and Adam Sandler first starred together in 1998's ‘The Wedding Singer.’

Fallon then asked if they'd like to "express those feelings in song," and he led the actress and her "Blended" co-star to the stage, where the talk show host played the guitar as the two traded lyrics about starring in romantic comedies together.
Sandler's lines showcased his trademark raunchy humor, including telling his co-star, "You're the Rob Ford to my crack cocaine," and, "I will still love you when your boobs touch the floor."

The rom-com duo is reuniting for their new romantic comedy ‘Blended,’ due out May 23.

"So right now," cracked Barrymore, who is eight months pregnant.
But the "Happy Gilmore" star ended their duet on a sweet note by singing, "I can be the man who grows old with you," a song from "The Wedding Singer" that Sandler's character used to serenade Barrymore's. The actress was visibly moved to hear the tune, and the two ended their song with a hug.

'Grey's Anatomy' Mid-Season Premiere Recap: Did April Choose Jackson or Matthew?

Welcome back, Grey's Anatomy fans! We have survived the hiatus and now have the pleasure of anticipating twelve (that's right, twelve!) uninterrupted episodes straight through to the season finale in May. Thank you, ABC. On to the mid-season premiere. Actually, hold that thought. I'm getting ahead of myself. It's been two and a half months since the Fall Finale. Let's review. 

When last we watched Meredith and Company, Derek was getting a phone called from the President of the United States. Jolex were making out by the side of the barn and pledging lifelong devotion. Miranda and Ben were having a tiff over him having given up his surgical residency. Both Calzona and Crowen were shooting pining looks at each other. And, oh yes. Jackson was standing up in the middle of April's wedding to Matthew to proclaim his love for her. Caught up? Excellent. Here we go.

Hold on tight, because tonight's installment proved that Grey's Anatomy, like the Cat Man, has nine lives. The first half of the season was wildly erratic, but "Take It Back" bodes well for season ten, part two. Engaging, engrossing, entertaining and, yes, surprising (no small feat in episode 209), this episode reminded me both of why I fell in love with this show in the first place and that it can still get the job done.

April's Choice

 

When the show opened to April and Jackson running from the barn The Graduate-style, I felt certain it would be revealed to be a dream sequence. But, no! April actually left Matthew (poor, sweet, good-guy Matthew, who has apparently vanished without a trace) at the altar and chose Jackson. For about ten minutes. Then she said something along the lines of "we can't do this". Meanwhile, everyone else was basically continuing their usual drama. Lots of shouting ensued, particularly between Calzona and MirBen. BenRanda? Whatever. You get the point. Now, fast forward three weeks.

Three Weeks Later

The fallout from the wedding-related chaos continues to engulf all of our surgeons. April is alone. Jackson is alone. Stephanie is both alone and humiliated. Shane (who surprisingly did not get fired after the debacle with Alex's father) is back at work and trying to keep his head down and actually work. Not that Chief Hunt is making it easy. He's one part professionally justified (after all, Shane messed up big time) and about three parts consumed by jealousy, since he found out that Shane was sleeping with Cristina. Sidebar: can we all agree that Jealous Owen is super-hot?

Although Jimmy somehow managed to survive being on Shane's O.R. table, Papa Karev (yes, I know his name is actually Jimmy Evans...work with me here!) is circling the drain. Alex lies to Jimmy's estranged wife (ex-wife?) Naomi to get her to come to Seattle. She's not amused to find out that Jimmy is merely dying and not dead. She takes back her father's guitar and gets out of Dodge, but not before telling Alex that he's just like his old man. Thanks for that. Anyway, Alex lies to Jimmy that Naomi and their son, Nicky, are on their way. It's okay for him to let go and die, which he does. Oh, Alex...

Accidentally Engaged

Not until he introduces her to Naomi as "my fiancee, Jo" does Jo realize that her boyfriend thinks they're engaged. What the what? It finally dawns on her that the smoochfest by the barn was the "proposal", but she's not having it, saying she's not ready to get married yet. Finally, some common sense on this show. 

In yet another dose of refreshing reality, Miranda and Ben finally start communicating with each other. Their big fight led to the revelation that he didn't want to give up his surgical residency at all and since there is a vacancy in the program at Grey-Sloan Memorial (RIP Mousey) Ben is now a surgical resident in Seattle!

Other Assorted Revelations

What else can I tell you? Calzona went from thisclose to calling it quits to buying a house together. Fresh Start or Lots of Unresolved Issues? Time will tell. Derek is going forward with his work for POTUS and Meredith is none-too-happy about it since it will mean going back on his promise to step back from work so she can step up. But in better news, The Twisted Sisters seem to be on the road to patching things up. Thanks goodness. Not a moment too soon. Which leaves us with the two big reveals of the night.

An Anonymous Complaint

An unidentified surgical resident has filed a complaint to Human Resources. Count One: Hostile Work Environment. Count Two: Directed Sexual Harassment. Count Three: Quid Pro Quo Harassment. Rut roh. Owen convenes an emergency board meeting to discuss the matter saying, "We are too often letting our personal lives disrupt our work." No kidding. HR wants an immediate ban on relationships between superiors and subordinates with a zero-tolerance policy. Wonder how well that's gonna work out?

The Surprise Twist

And, finally, in what I consider to be a delightful turn of events, Japril lives! They did not break up. They have not been alone. In fact, they are MARRIED! I know. I didn't see it coming, either. Well played.

 The next all-new episode of Grey's Anatomy, "You Got To Hide Your Love Away", airs Thursday, March 6 on ABC.

 

Johnny Marr Sets Sights on New Solo Album

Hot on the heels of Morrissey scoffing at the idea of a Smiths reunion, the band's guitarist Johnny Marr has said he has another solo album in the works. While details surrounding the collection are still up in the air, it seems that the record will arrive this fall.

"I've got a new record coming out in the end of September, the follow-up to last year's," he told NME, referring to his 2013 album The Messenger.

It also appears as if the record will be inspired by his recent live shows. Marr said, "I wanted to do the second one really quick. For me, it was just about being on tour and wanting to capture the spirit of the band and the audience before it wears off. I'd been touring for 11 months so I wanted to keep that same energy. I didn't want to overthink it."

The Messenger was Marr's first-ever solo record during his 30-plus-year career. He's also played with bands like Modest Mouse, the Cribs, The The, Electronic, and more.

This may not be the only Smiths-related solo LP we hear this year, since Morrissey also has something on the go.

'Non-Stop': Liam Neeson, Armed And Dangerous Again

"Have you ever fired two guns whilst jumping through the air?" So asks one character in Edgar Wright's excellent 2007 comedic tribute to buddy-cop movies, Hot Fuzz, in a moment meant to highlight the simultaneous ridiculousness and awesomeness of that particular action-movie trope.
In Non-Stop, Liam Neeson doesn't fire two guns, nor does he jump through the air. He does, however, grab a gun in midair while in a zero-G nose-dive on a transatlantic flight, and fire said gun whilst floating through the cabin. In slow motion. It's Liam Neeson at his Neesoniest, and yet another entry in his expanding late-career bloom into gruff and commanding action hero.

Non-Stop bears a surface similarity to the glossy European-style high trash of 2008's Taken, but Neeson's Bill Marks in this film is a far cry from the ex-CIA operative — "with a very particular set of skills" — he played in that film. Marks is a Federal Air Marshal, and his particular skills largely involve numbing himself with a very Irish coffee on the way to his next flight and managing to have a smoke undetected in the airplane lavatory. The flight attendants on his regular New York-London route know his habits well enough that they bring him bottled water when he futilely orders a gin and tonic.

We see the flight as he sees it: hazily, as an endless parade of potential evildoers, even though chances are that in the course of his air-marshal career — which he's landed in after a personal tragedy gets him kicked off the police force — it's unlikely he'll ever share a cabin with an actual terrorist.
Except, of course, on this day: The secure network Marks uses to communicate with the TSA is breached and he begins receiving texts from a passenger on his flight, who claims someone on the plane will be killed every 20 minutes unless $150 million is transferred into a specified bank account. So begins a lengthy game of cat-and-mouse, as Marks tries to solve an increasing number of murders on this transatlantic express.

The film's early look through Marks' eyes at his fellow fliers winds up being extremely important; Non-Stop is less a nonstop actioner and more a high-flying whodunit. As such, it's important for director Jaume Collet-Serra and writers John W. Richardson and Christopher Roach to keep viewers guessing until the big reveal.
They may go a little overboard: Of the plane's 150 passengers, a remarkably high percentage spend time as potential suspects, making this jet into a flying tin can of red herring. The confusion over the identity of the killer, who mysteriously manages to text Marks constantly, as well as killing multiple people mid-flight without being detected, also serves to leave the marshal barely in control of the passengers. For a variety of reasons, they think it's Marks himself who's causing the chaos and perhaps even hijacking the flight.
Non-Stop isn't a great film; it may not even be very good, and it's undeniably convoluted and silly. Yet I enjoyed nearly every moment. Sure, it's probably 15 minutes overlong, thanks to that excess of misdirection. Add to that the ham-handed politics of the real intentions of the hijacker once the big reveal finally comes — the culmination of an undercurrent of blunt political commentary about air security and prejudicial assumptions about terrorism that runs through the entire film.

But if it works, it's because Neeson and Collet-Serra, as well as Julianne Moore as Neeson's business-class seatmate Jen, are all fully aware of how ludicrous this exercise is. Witness the wry joke Collet-Serra uses to obscure onscreen expletives in text messages that would have otherwise given the film an R-rating, or the way Moore's breezy nonchalance provides a counterbalance to Neeson's studied intensity.
And especially take note of that mid-air gravity-free gun-grab, which is a winking celebration of everything that's completely absurd about this sort of film. Neeson does indeed have a very particular set of skills — in elevating the generic action thriller into guilt-free popcorn pleasure.

Utah students caught smoking pot in igloo on campus

This gives a whole new meaning to the phrase just chillin'.

Police said they busted four University of Utah students smoking pot -- in an igloo.

The igloo, tucked away in a wooded area in the Salt Lake City school's campus, was 5 feet high with walls that were 10 inches thick, campus police said.

"They did quite an elaborate job on it," campus police spokesman Garth Smith. "There was a cardboard door and a stick acting as a hinge."

The students didn't say much when police patrolling the area found them, he said, and it's unclear who built the structure.

One of the students had a backpack and was cited for possession of marijuana and paraphernalia, Smith said.

Though there were no arrests, the four were referred to the Student Behavior Committee after the January 31 incident,

It will decide on their punishment, which could include academic sanctions and expulsion.

Police tore down the igloo.

Bags, strollers, unregistered runners not welcome at this year's Boston Marathon

As part of revamped security following last year's deadly bombings, the Boston Marathon has banned various items for the 2014 race, including bags and strollers.

The bombs placed in backpacks exploded near the finish line last year, killing three people.

Backpacks, handbags, suitcases and similar items are prohibited from entering any marathon venues this year.

So are containers with more than 1 liter of liquid, costumes covering the face, and bulky clothes such as vests with pockets.

Runners cannot take the items anywhere near the 26-mile course, organizer Boston Athletic Association said in a statement Wednesday.

Marathoners will be allowed to carry clear, plastic bags provided by the organizers. They can also run with small fanny packs for medication and cell phones, and fuel belts that hold a bottle under one liter.

Large flags or signs bigger than 11 inches x 17 inches are also banned from marathon venues. Marathon venues include the start and finish areas, the course, athletes' village and areas where official events are held.

Unregistered runners and cyclists, who jump into the race along various points, are not welcome this year, either.

"We are aware that many people want to participate in some way in this year's Boston Marathon as a display of support," the statement said. "But we ask that those who are not official participants to refrain from entering the course for the safety of the runners and themselves."

On April 15 last year, double bombings hit the Boston Marathon, which attracts elite runners from all over the world. They exploded within 12 seconds of each other. Three people died and 264 others were injured.

Two brothers, Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, are suspected of planting the homemade bombs near the finish line.

The latter faces a potential death penalty and appears in court in November. His brother was killed in a police shootout shortly after the bombings.

The 118th Boston Marathon will be held on April 21.